Nov 29 - ICBC celebrated the 10th Year anniversary of ICBC Bill Department, the first organization in the country dedicated to bill business, in a "Press Conference on the Tenth Anniversary of Bill Department & New Product Launch" held in Beijing today. A decade of effort has turned Shanghai-based ICBC Bill Department into the most formidable player in the China's financial market. Since its inception, the Department has registered a turnover of RMB 6.5 trillion, RMB 6.88 billion in profit, and maintained zero record on inward fraudulent bills, non-performing assets, capital loss and economic criminal cases for ten consecutive years. More important, the exclusive business model also drives the healthy growth of ICBC's bill business across all the branches. In a decade ICBC has generated a total turnover of RMB 12 trillion and nearly RMB 100 billion in interest income. Non-performing bill assets stayed at a good ratio of less than 1/10000.

On the same day in Beijing , ICBC Bill Department signed the Cooperation Agreement on Bill Business respectively with China Merchants Bank, Shenzhen Development Bank and Bank of Shanghai. The agreement states out the terms and conditions for the parties to cooperate in the areas of bill business covering re-discounting, integrated services, asset optimization/swap, interbank funds and risk control. Meanwhile, ICBC Bill Department also signed the Master Bill Repurchase Agreement with China CITIC Bank, Industrial Bank Co. Ltd, Guangdong Development Bank. The master agreement will effectively provide the parties with a substantial decrease in operational cost and risk, promote unified and standard trading behavior, increase the efficiency in commercial bill repurchase, and push forward the orderly development of the market.

At the conference, ICBC Senior Executive Vice President Wang Lili stated that the 10 years of establishment of a dedicated organization for bill business represented a decade of bringing forward the ICBC bill business by leaps and bounds. This underscored the right decision of ICBC to set up a special department for the business. Tacking into the next phase, ICBC will continue the effort to capitalize on that advantage and strive to be the first market maker. ICBC have a couple of initiatives planned to set up a multidivisional structure. The aim of the ICBC Bill Department is to establish itself as an integrated service provider by pursuing aggressive growth strategy and build the brand of "ICBC Bills" in China's bill market.

Several factors contributed to the today's success of ICBC in the establishment of a special department for bill business, as related by Senior Executive Vice President Wang Lili. The exclusive business model not only brings its own benefits, but also drives the innovation in organization structure, rules, technology and management. Starting from the innovation in organization structure, ICBC was the first among the peers to manage the operation in unison encompassing all the businesses related to bill financing. Business rules and administrative measures have been drawn up for the unified authorization and administration on the bill financing organizations and their entry to the industry. A platform was in place for running and monitoring the bill business to facilitate centralized allocation of funds in large scale and bring improved management. In terms of the innovation in rules, ICBC subsequently announced tens of rules on the operation step, management and risk control concerning different bill services, covering all points of risk exposures in the service flow, important job positions, steps which are easily fallen prey to risk caused by moral hazard. In every step staffs work efficiently, check and balance with each other. In terms of technological innovation, ICBC has independently developed the "Integrated Management System on Bill Business". The platform monitors in real-time the bills' source structure and direction flow, risk assessment and early warning. All accounting factors (stamp, test key, vouchers, key devices and others) are included in the system to achieve hard control for the "separate management of stamp, test key, voucher". Enquiry system on the public notice for assertion of claims and vetting system on the public notices' control information are set up for irregular announcements on customers that should be kept a close eye on. The use of hardware in the two systems help stop non-compliant bills or bills coming from un-trustworthy customers, and effectively control risks. In terms of innovation in management, ICBC reins in all bills in ICBC to be centralized under Bill Department in the form of bill transfer. The move adds bonus to the improved risk management and control, and urges all branches to follow standard procedures in an effort to drive the ICBC bill financing business to an upward trajectory.

Senior Executive Vice President Wang Lili continued that ICBC, being a large bank with substantial influence in financial sector at home and abroad, is taking all necessary steps to drive the development and progress of the financial market. ICBC is shaping up the standard of China's bill market and driving forward the business. Examples are: ICBC compiled and announced the ICBC Bill Price Index，the first domestic bill price index, and the YRD Bill Discount Price Index. ICBC is the first bank in China to launch quotes on bills using SHIBOR as benchmark at the www.zgpj.net and successfully concluded the first interbank re-discounting of electronic bill nationwide. Meanwhile, ICBC is also the organizer in setting up regional and nationwide information platform for the exchange and communication on bill business. "Standard Contract Text on the Re-discounting of Commercial Draft", "Bill Acceptance Convention" and a raft of rules and standards (many of them are now the operation standards in the bill industry) have been announced by ICBC to promote the orderly development of nationwide bill market.